Based on common terminology developed for medicine in the late 1980s and early 1990s, David Sackett & colleagues described evidence-based medicine as the “conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” (Sackett 1989). The practice of evidence-based medicine requires integration of individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from research, and always considering the individual patient.

Similarly, the definition adopted by the General Assembly of World Dental Federation (FDI) in 2016 (FDI World Dental Federation 2017) describes evidence-based dentistry as consisting of three basic elements – (i) systematic assessments of clinically relevant scientific evidence relating to the patient's oral and medical condition and history, (ii) the dentist's clinical expertise, and (iii) individual preferences and expectations of the patient.

A hierarchy of levels of evidence for developing clinical recommendations based on medical literature was described in 1979 (Burns et al. 2011). These levels have since evolved further to assist evaluation and interpretation of the literature to assist clinical decision-making. Clinicians are encouraged to seek the highest level of evidence to answer their questions but also to be critical in their appraisal of the evidence they find, particularly where evidence is limited or lacking (Atkins et al. 2004). Approaches have also been developed to further assist the translation of evidence into useful, specific and actionable recommendations. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) (Guyatt et al. 2008) is an example of such an approach for a single consensus system developed by an international collaborative group.